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It was derived in Middle English and Middle Scots from the Old French word burgeis, simply meaning "an inhabitant of a town" (cf. burgeis or burges respectively). The Old French word burgeis is derived from bourg, meaning a market town or medieval village, itself derived from Late Latinburgus, meaning "fortress"[2] or "wall". In effect, the reference was to the north-west European medieval and renaissance merchant class which tended to set up their storefronts along the outside of the city wall, where traffic through the gates was an advantage and safety in event of an attack was easily accessible. The right to seek shelter within a burg was known as the right of burgess.[3]

The term was close in meaning to the Germanic term burgher, a formally defined class in medieval German cities (Middle Dutchburgher, Dutchburger and GermanBürger). It is also linguistically close to the French term Bourgeois, which evolved from burgeis. An analogous term in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu is برج 'burj' or 'borj', which in itself variously means a high wall, a building, or a tower.[relevant?– discuss]